Rumsfeld must face trial for torture, Court of Appeal rulesBush official does not have personal immunity for torture

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It
is hard to overstate the significance of the ruling bythe US Court of
Appeals that Donald Rumsfeld will face trial for torture. Every Bush-era
official who committed crimes, including authorizing torture, has to be
deeply alarmed.

The movement for accountability has entered a new, decisive stage and we are committed to stepping up the momentum.

The
court ruled on Tuesday that two U.S. citizens who worked for a private
security firm in Iraq can proceed to take Donald Rumsfeld to trial for
the torture they assert they endured during months of imprisonment in
2006 in a prison set up by the Pentagon at a military base near
Baghdad's airport..

The
two men say they were arrested and then brutally tortured after they
tried to expose bribery and corruption in the private security firm that
was on the Pentagon payroll. They informed U.S. authorities and began
cooperating with them to expose bribery and corruption. In early 2006
they were unexpectedly arrested and sent to the prison at the US
military base Camp Cropper located near Baghdad's airport.

After
months of imprisonment they were taken from the jail and dropped at the
airport without ever having been charged with a crime.

The Court of Appeals in Chicago on Tuesday upheld a lower court ruling that the men have a right to take Rumsfeld to trial.

The court ruled, "We
agree with the district court that the plaintiffs have alleged
sufficient facts to show that Secretary Rumsfeld personally established
the relevant policies that caused the alleged violations of their
constitutional rights during detention."